Defensive Bulldogs run past Indians in CBC tilt

Saturday

Jan 19, 2013 at 12:24 AMJan 19, 2013 at 12:29 AM

Indians drop Corn Belt contest

Erich Murphy

Two runs by Mahomet-Seymour were the difference as the Bulldogs left Pontiac with a 54-39 Corn Belt Conference boys’ basketball victory over the host Indians Friday night. Added to the runs was a turnover-less quarter by the visitors and a terrible shooting night for the Tribe. As a result, PTHS saw its record drop to 4-3 in the conference and 8-7 overall. “I feel we had a lot of good looks but sometimes you have those nights where the ball just doesn’t fall,” PTHS head coach Brandon Martin said of his team’s shooting. Neil Lambert had trouble finding his range, as did most everyone else. Logan Gschwendtner missed a layup as the Indians were finding the ball not bouncing their way. “We knew they had good shooters so we just wanted to get out and get a good solid contest and not give any clean looks,” MS head coach Chad Benedict said of the Tribe. “They won’t miss those the next time.” Mahomet wasn’t really lighting up the nets, but the Bulldogs were having more success even though their top player, Brad Herrmann, was sidelined with a broken foot. Pontiac had trimmed a six-point halftime deficit to one, at 25-24, after Shawn Milhauser converted a steal into a layup with 3:35 left in the third quarter. Those were the last points for the Tribe in the period. Benedict called a timeout after the Milhauser hoop that seemed to stem the PTHS momentum. The Bulldogs got a basket from Ross Johnson on the baseline 20 seconds after the timeout. It started a 10-point run that pretty much put the game away. Johnson had two more baskets in the run that concluded 37 seconds into the fourth period and gave Mahomet a 35-24 advantage. It was the first time in the game the Bulldogs held a double-digit advantage. “They made a little run and climbed right back into it and then we were lucky we got some baskets,” Benedict said of the third quarter. Mahomet scored the first four points of the game and the defense was making a statement early. The Indians had trouble getting a good look and did not get on the board until Milhauser converted a steal nearly three minutes into the game. Pontiac didn’t score for another two minutes, and neither did Mahomet. William Meiner tied it at 4-4 after taking a feed from Milhauser while cutting to the basket. PTHS took the lead with 29 seconds left in the first quarter when Milhauser scored on a put-back off a Trent Smith miss. The Tribe led 7-6 at the end of the opening frame and was up 9-6 20 seconds into the second quarter when Lambert hit from 15 feet. The Bulldogs came back quickly as Connor Diedrich nailed a 3-pointer that started a 10-point run that took 1:40 to complete. He added a second triple in transition after a Pontiac miss. This led to Pontiac timeout, which did not stop Mahomet. The Bulldogs got baskets from Matthew Turner and Diedrich after the respite to take a 16-9 lead with 5:20 left in the first half. “We talk to our kids about this being a game of runs,” Benedict said. “We got lucky and put the ball in the hole a little bit.” Defense and maintaining control of the ball favored Mahomet in the second quarter. The Bulldogs did not turn the ball over and their pressure affected the Indians. “They get up into you and pressure the ball real hard. Even in their zone, they have a lot of ball pressure,” Martin said. “Our kids struggled with that; we had some turnovers that led to some layups.” Another thing that hurt the Indians was Carter Jacobs picking up two fouls quickly. The sophomore pivot missed most of the first half after picking up two personals in the first 3-plus minutes. Martin was happy with the play of his bench. Meiner came off the pines to score 11 points in leading the Pontiac offense. Milhauser added 8 while Lambert, Jacobs and Zac Justus scored 6 points apiece. Gschwendtner had 2 points. Diedrich had 23 points for the Bulldogs. Sam Hohlfelder added 7.